What I learnt at the Mighty Car Mods meetup

Electric Nissan Skyline, capable of around 400kW.

1. People looooooooooove EV’s! James from Traction EV has copped a bit of flak from petrol heads over the last few years, but out there, at an event organised by people who encourage cooperation, respect and appreciation for and with each other, with the fully electric SHOCKR there in its clean, slick, understated glory with its twin electric motors that look like some kind of alien V8, and with super-friendly and knowledgeable James, Justin (and me!) to chat to, people scratched heads, were stoked, bummed that it wasn’t running yet, and excited for new kinds of car mods, competition and fun. A young, long-haired dude in a Pantera shirt looked ecstatic when he lay eyes on the SHOCKR, taking photos from all angles – “I love EV’s and I love 31’s!” – he said, face split in a wide grin, and James replied that he loves Pantera hehehe (an R31 is a type of Nissan Skyline and there are dedicated R31 clubs!) We had heaps of interest and got exactly no negative comments at all. 🙂

3. Cars make a large variety of noises, whether they “scream” past at over 200k’s or patiently crawl by lining up to get on track: screaming, hissing, chuchuing, rumbling, snap-crackle-popping, flamethrowing…but they all stink the damn same ☹ Might take a respirator next time, that night I felt like I’d been chain smoking all day!

4. Some diesel cars can run with adblue, which is stuff derived from ureic acid that makes emissions slightly less harmful. I thought just council buses and other such large-scale Dreckschleuder (gas guzzlers) ran with it but in one of the pits there were some containers of it. Cool.

5. Everybody was super respectful and appreciative of each other’s work and creations. I felt super comfy walking around on my own, even with all this testosterone around, oohing and aaahing around the track as cars flitzed by (being fast, noisy, smelly, and very fun), and was impressed how focused everyone was on the collective objects of their passion, cars cars cars cars cars in all shapes, makes and sizes!

The Smart car was hilariously slow and comfortably quiet.

6. Pajeros have amazing suspension and back seat air con (thanks for lending the tow vehicle Adam!).

7. As the hitherto unbeaten household champion of F1 Racing on Gameboy in the 90’s, I look forward to take some sorta sweet ride to the track myself sometime soon…maybe my little Rolla? Or even the Shockr? Or better yet – an EV Beetle! Or a council bus!?!?!? That would get SO many laughs!!!!!!

8. Lotus cars look amazing and are fast and quiet, even when going very fast. They are also very low, tempting me to use it as a Bockspring-hurdle (leapfrog). To get in, you need to be a yogi, otherwise you need to stretch and warm up so you don’t hurt your back; while you slide your body sideways and several stories down, fold your legs, arms, trunk, and neck origami-style to hopefully land on the seat butt-down. For added comfort a pillow is provided.9. Going to this event was a last-minute decision that took me away from doing my stuff (study, novel, work, organising my life etc), but I really wanted to be there and support my man, his work, business and passion. So to not get down on missing out on me-time, I flipped the whole situation into a positive by resolving to interact, learn, and observe, be fully present, soaking up the vibes, to immerse myself in an environment that is new to me, with people that are different to my normal circles, to experience different things and love it. While I felt fairly out of my depths many times (hours and hours of car talk…! Me thinking during a moment of silence while walking the pits: “Surely they can’t have anything more car-related to talk about now…they have been talking car stuff like the whole time we’ve been here…oh wait, no…yep there they go…more ranting about engines with turbo encabulators, unilateral phase detractors, and flux capacitors…) it felt great to be there appreciating people, man-made tech (however smelly and noisy), and generally the great variety and niches humanity has created following its passions, dreams and interests.

10. Love and Peace can be found everywhere, including at a car show ❤

Bring on more electric cars yo. Check out EV West to check out what’s possible right NOW!

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